This is in fact a few step up from MacBook Pro -- 1080P screen and SSD, despite with only 4GB of RAM, but I would say that is a good trade-off. However, SSD prices is so low nowadays. A 128GB SSD costs about the same as a 500/750GB of HDD. Hopefully the price will down a bit at launch.Reply

The funny thing is that if you configure a non-retina 15" MBP with the same specs it will come around $100 more than the retina one.

But you’re right, the 13" MBP does have a lower res display (which makes it unusable for me—the form factor would be great otherwise). Here’s hoping Apple will really introduce a 13" retina MBP this fall…Reply

No, but Apple was the first to see that ultrathin portables could be a mainstream class and not merely a niche product.

I've always been a fan of ultraportables, all the way back to the NEC Ultralite back in the early 1990s. However, while 4lb notebooks were common in the early 1990s (think the Sharp PC 6220 or even the original Compaq ), the industry went off on a tangent with thicker and heavier designs. There's really no reason why 3lb notebooks couldn't have been mainstream in 2008. It took Apple to take the category seriously (though they didn't get the formula quite right until 2010).

Today, in late 2012, there is really no reason why an ultrabook can't be a "main" computer for about 90% of the population. With dedicated game consoles like the Xbox, few people really need a discrete GPU. SSD prices have fallen dramatically, and 8GB is pretty easy to put into an Ultrabook (Apple offers an 8GB Air, so others can do so just as easily).Reply

This isn't even the third company to make ultrabooks that don't look like macbooks. See Samsung series 9, and lenovo U-series (the later, when opened and only looking at the keyboard, looks like a macbook in that it is sparsely decorated and solid aluminum, but the rest looks quite different).For that matter, even the Asus ultrabooks, with their unique exteriors, don't seem to leave people wondering if they are macbooks.Reply

First of all, the way the laptop is being held in the video while using the touchscreen - strange. I get it for demo purposes, but I don't see anyone holding a laptop like that.

I'm wondering why the pictures and the video have no demonstration of the 180-degree hinge. Did they not let you use that functionality? Seems like that would the first thing you do with the 13-inch model to demo the touch screen...Reply

A 360 degree hinge would be more interesting IMO; being able to fold the keyboard/palm rest under the display is a lot more likely to be used as a tablet then simply letting you lay the screen flat.Reply

If you are doing any development work (which requires bloated tools or, like you said, VMs) or graphics/photography/video work (for which you don’t _really_ need a cutting edge GPU), 4GB can be pretty annoying. Most people who use laptops for work plug them into a display at home and the office anyway.

I’m doing lots of work with Photoshop and optionally an IDE or browser open for development and I’m getting by with 8GB mostly because the SSD makes paging out bearable. Which is the main reason I haven’t switched to a MacBook Air and probably a reason many have trouble finding an Ultrabook that would work for them.

A bit of a bummer, really, just like the year-long reluctance to put decent screens into Ultrabooks. People who buy those machines for work don’t even mind a $100-200 premium that much for those features. Reply

Sorry but I am willing to bet no matter what improvements you have made Acer your brand reputation is already so well established your not going to get many willing to pay ultra premium prices for your carp.Reply

You can't get a decent size SSD (more than 20GB) without going up to an i7, and runtime seems to be slipping in a lot of models, too (3-cell batteries, 5.5hrs runtime). I would think an Ultrabook like I list would have a lot of appeal for both individuals and some businesses. Someone build it, please!Reply

"Also impressive was the trackpad performance which didn't exhibit any of the usual issues we've seen from Ultrabooks thus far."

I think that has to do with Win 8. I remember reading, that apart from much better multi-touch trackpad support on Win 8, that the actual hardware for the trackpads will also be improved and have more bandwidth.Reply

I think you're right that it has something to do with Win8, but I'm not sure it is just the hardware (though there has been some changes to the HID protocol for Win8 since linux has had to adopt some of the upcoming changes in preparation for these new devices https://lkml.org/lkml/2012/6/27/85). In my experience, I rarely have difficulty with linux trackpads. Frankly I'm a bit baffled by the experiences people seem to have with trackpads in general. Things like latency, accuracy, jitter are all things that I either don't experience at all, or I can fix by adjusting some module variables.The exception to this is with touchscreen notebooks (i.e., cursor sometimes sticks with the touchscreen input and won't release to the trackpad unless you click on the touchscreen to release), but I believe this to be an issue with Xinput.Reply

Lacking a 360-degree hinge, why would these things have a touchscreen? As is obvious from the picture, it's awkward to use with the keyboard hanging out, and overall looks as silly as it probably feels.

So many things are wrong with the ultrabooks that I think very few people will actually buy one. I want a light (but not ultralight); thin (but not ultrathin) laptop with an SSD, decent graphics and excellent battery life, for $600-$700. I don't want all the compromises and high price that go with the "ultra" niche.Reply

I agree with your touchscreen sentiment. But even if it had a 360-deg hinge, would it still be worthwhile? Just look at the section in the hands-on vid where he "emails a presentation". That segment took at least 3x longer to do because of the horrendous inefficiency of touchscreen controls (press and hold for 2s instead of right/clicking. I have a tablet myself, but so far I have not encountered a single usage scenario where touchscreen controls are better than mouse+kbd. Having finally gotten around to installing the W8 RP, I can't help but cringe about the future of PC use since it's obviously designed with touchscreens in mind.Reply